PokerStars Macau announces ACOP

PokerStars Macau is proud to announce the ACOP (Asia Championship of Poker) which will launch in November 2012. The inaugural event features the HKD $100,000 (US $13,000) buy-in Main Event which comes with a HKD $10,000,000 (US $1,300,000) guarantee.

Team PokerStars Pro Raymond Wu said, "I'm always looking for the biggest challenges and that's sent me to PCA and several EPT stops in the past. The ACOP will be a great addition for Asia and I'm extremely excited about this announcement!"

The newest event to Asia's most successful poker venue will be held in conjunction with the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT). The ACOP will flagship the already-impressive PokerStars Macau line-up of tournaments including the Macau Poker Cup: Red Dragon, Macau Millions, Macau Poker Cup Championship, and APPT Macau.

"APPT Macau introduced poker to Asia's consciousness in 2007 and the PokerStars Macau venue opened in 2008 with the Macau Poker Cup series. For that, those tournaments will always have a special place in my heart." said Danny McDonagh, PokerStars Director of Live Operations for Asia-Pacific. "What PokerStars Macau has done is create awareness for the sport of poker in the region while also introducing over 50 countries to Macau and our venue as a destination."

"This year, the MPC series has increased by over 50% and the Macau Millions became the first tournament in Asia to break the thousand-entry mark with 1,329 entries. Clearly, that success along with the PokerStars 10th Anniversary Celebration made this the right time to announce the ACOP. The Asian people are extremely passionate about poker and there's no doubt that the ACOP will become one of the biggest poker tournaments in the world by the time PokerStars celebrates its 20th birthday."

The official schedule for the ACOP will be announced at a later time but confirmed are 13-15 Official Asia Player of the Year Events. Serving as the grand finale for the Asia Player of the Year race, the ACOP side events will be evenly divided between high buy-ins of HKD $8,000-25,000 to low buy-ins ranging from HKD $1,000-4,000.

"A big buy-in event like the ACOP will attract a different level of poker player and that will mean players coming to Macau for the very first time. Obviously that's one of our goals." said PokerStars Country Manager Fred Leung. "But we don't want to alienate the loyal following of players in this emerging market and so Danny (McDonagh) and I decided to take a page out of the hugely successful SCOOP. Each variation of poker we offer in the side events will have buy-in similar to the ones we've had in the MPC: Red Dragon series but also a championship with a high buy-in that players on the international poker circuit are accustomed to."